The end of 2017 was rolling over into the beginning of 2018, the city of Newburgh was going through some troubles, and Neal Amos was looking for a way for the area’s youth to put their energy toward something positive.

At that time, the city didn’t have a flag football program, so Amos created one.

A little less than five years later, the program is still going strong, serving about 125 to 150 kids per season from the ages of five all the way up to 17. Most importantly, the program has become recognized as something for kids to do during the winter and summer months.

“That’s very positive,” Amos said. “And it keeps the kids off the street and keeps them from making a bad decision. So, with myself and a few others, keeping them up at the recreation field for four or five hours at a time, they’re occupied with just sports and they’re not in the streets. They’re not causing mischief.”

The inspiration for creating the program came from Amos’ son’s participation in youth sports. Amos knew football, but he only knew tackle, and he jumped headlong into creating the program. He said the program is NFL-based, but it has his own special twist.

While the 2022 season is ending this weekend with championships on Saturday and championships on Sunday, he feels the program is succeeding in its main mission: keeping kids out of trouble and fostering a love of sports.

“A lot of these kids that started at age five have now begun to play a lot more sports, whether it be tackle football, basketball, soccer or baseball,” Amos said. “It was that avenue to help these kids start loving sports.”

That activity is most needed in summer when school is out, and their lives are less structured.

“When you have free time like that, that’s when The Devil likes to play in the playground and get you do the things you’re not supposed to do,” Amos said. “So, with that time, and then kids being out there, as well as their parents, it shows them that they don’t have to be in the streets. They don’t have to do this and that. They can meet new friends that are on the same positive path.”

The league isn’t the only thing that’s growing, so is the stable of volunteers that Amos has worked with. Some of them even had their troubles when they were young, and they can relate the prices they may have paid for bad decisions made in their own youth.

By sharing the consequences of their own actions, they can act as a deterrent.

“Once we break down those negative outcomes to that negative action, the kids know, ‘I really don’t need that’ vs. you come and play football for a few hours,” Amos said. “At the end of the season, you get an award, you get a ring if you win the championship, and you get to keep a uniform. That stands for something. You get to be part of a family and a growing community that is just growing and getting better and better every year we do it.”

Football is a team sport, and through the program, the players also learn responsibility. If one player doesn’t do his job, it could cause a cascade effect that unravels everyone’s effort. The sport instills in its young players responsibility to their team and responsibility to themselves.

Those lessons also translate outside of the playing field to at home with family, and as they get older and become adults, their careers and future families.

“You’re responsible for helping us get into the end zone and you’re responsible for making that catch,” Amos said. “You’re responsible for throwing that ball and then it transitioned into real life. Just like with an adult. Once a kid starts working, you’re responsible for getting up at 8 a.m. to go to work, clock in, clock out at 4 and come home and wash dishes. So, we take sports, and transition it into real-life things. We try to make it similar. Sometimes it doesn’t work that way, but we try our best to do that.”